| Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those games. PRC military says �What war on terrorism?� They�re more focused on swallowing Taiwan. Check out the story on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: AUGUST 7, 2002 TOP STORY: PRESIDENT CHEN CALLS TAIWAN �SOVEREIGN,� �INDEPENDENT� SAYS TAIWAN �IS NOT SOMEONE ELSE�S LOCAL GOVERNMENT;� COMMENTS ON POSSIBLE INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM ROILS COMMUNISTS, OPPOSITION ROC President Chen Shui-bian told both a meeting of Taiwanese expatriates in Japan and a group of leaders from his Democratic Progressive party that Taiwan is not a �local government� but it�s own country. (CNN August 6). Over the weekend, Chen even hinted he supported a referendum on formal independence for Taiwan (CNN August 3, BBC August 3), but he backed away from that yesterday. Chen said his weekend comments � in which he called a referendum is �a basic human right that cannot be deprived or restricted� � �were oversimplified and may have caused misunderstanding.� He would not back away from his assertion that the island democracy was an �independent,� and �sovereign.� On Saturday, he had said �Taiwan, China, on each side . . . are different countries� (Washington Post). That statement, despite its obvious reflection of reality, gave the Communists� fits (Cybercast News, Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN)); they insist that Taiwan is a part of the so-called People�s Republic of China. Chen blasted that logic on Saturday: �Our Taiwan is not someone else's local government. Our Taiwan is not someone else's province.� In response, PRC generals called for �liberating the renegade province.� However, according to Lam, the Communist leadership has decided instead to continue trying to �alienate Chen from Taiwan's powerful corporate community, most of whose members have invested heavily in coastal China,� and to undermine support for Chen within Taiwan. They got some help their from the opposition parties � the Nationalists and the People First Party � who also ripped Chen�s remarks. Taiwan�s media, as this BBC report shows, was more divided, with some newspapers calling Chen�s statements on sovereignty �a clear statement of reality.� The Taiwanese military, in reaction to all of this, announced it had cancelled a �submarine hunting exercise,� which it called a �routine drill� in order to prevent �misunderstandings� (CNN August 7, BBC August 7). Many likened Chen�s �sovereignty� declaration to then-President Lee Teng-hui�s 1999 declaration that relations between the PRC and the ROC should be �state-to-state.� Lee, known as �Mr. Democracy� for bringing free elections to Taiwan, drove the Communists nuts by merely mentioning Taiwan as a �state,� and led to a split in the Nationalists, with anti-Lee members leaving to form the PFP. After Chen won the election to succeed Lee, the Nationalists moved closer to the PFP, and both of which grew cozier with Communist China. In reaction, Lee formed the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which burst on the scene in last winter�s elections for the Legislature with 13 seats (see December 5, 2001 update). Lee�s TSU, not surprisingly, strongly supports Chen�s DPP on foreign policy issues. For more on the island democracy, see Republic of China (Taiwan) News. There is still time to contact the President and tell him not to approve PRC sympathizer Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS PRESIDENT BUSH TO HOST PRC PRESIDENT JIANG IN OCTOBER President Bush will open up his Crawford, Texas ranch for Communist President Jiang Zemin on October 25 (CNN). Topics �will include nuclear nonproliferation and the U.S. campaign against terrorism.� PRC SCIENTIST ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO STEAL FARM BACTERIA Yin Qin Qiang, a biology scientist from Communist China working in Cornell University, is under arrest for trying to steal bacteria to aid farm production to �benefit our country,� as he put it in a letter he wrote for potential PRC employers (CNN). Cornell fired him after they found the letter, but Yin tried fly to Shanghai while hiding the bacteria � including some in the backpack of his 4-year-old daughter. TWELVE-YEAR-OLD ESCAPES PRC Twelve-year-old Yukun Jia, in California with a youth group from Communist China, left the group and flew east with American relatives. She is now somewhere on the East Coast � authorities would not say more � and she may defect from the PRC to the U.S. Report: Fox News HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS SOUTH KOREAN MISSIONARY RELEASED BY PRC, DEPORTATION CERTAIN Communist China released, and is about to deport, a Christian South Korean missionary who helped refugees from North Korea in the PRC (Washington Times, second paragraph). Chun Ki-won helped 170 North Koreans escape the Stalinist regime through Communist China to South Korea before his arrest. Hundreds of thousands have fled North Korea�s starvation, made worse by the regime�s stealing of food. Communist China, meanwhile, has sent back any refugee from the Stalinist regime that it can find, leading many to seek refuge in the embassies of democratic nations. South Korea, Japan, and Canada have all hosted refugees at some point this year. All were eventually flown to freedom in South Korea. The North Korea Report has the latest on the Stalinist ally of Communist China. Sign up now to receive it every Monday. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS COMMUNIST MILITARY TURNS 75, PUSHES FOR JIANG TO REMAIN AT HIS POSTS As it celebrated its 75th birthday, the so-called People�s Liberation Army lavishly praised its Central Military Commission Chairman � PRC President Jiang Zemin. Both Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) and the BBC took note of the heavy, and unusually personal, public praise for Jiang, who desperately wants to hang on to the very powerful Chair of the CMC, as well as Communist Party general secretary post. Whether Jiang will keep the top party job is unclear, but Lam called it �likely� that the Jiang will hang on to the CMC post �for at least a few more years.� More to the point, Lam noted that �the PLA�s clout in domestic politics� would ensure that Jiang, as CMC Chair, would remain in charge of Communist China �even if Hu succeeds in getting the positions of party generation secretary (sic) and state president.� In a later piece, Lam reports that Jiang�s maneuverings have brought more attention to Zeng Qinghong, his long-time prot�g�. Zeng, through Jiang, has managed to maintain close ties to the military, which Lam, citing an anonymous Communist source in Beijing, called �the party's king-maker.� CHINA TELECOM LOOKING TO SELL STOCK ON U.S. AND HONG KONG MARKETS Here comes another one. PRC-run China Telecom has applied �for stock market listings in the US and Hong Kong� (BBC). The Communist firm is hoping to pocket $4 million from the sale of stock. This time, however, unlike the Bank of China (see last update), �fewer buyers than expected may come forward� due to �extreme share price volatility.� RESIDENTS OF PRC ANGRY OVER TAXES After years of local taxes and fees ostensibly illegal but nevertheless ruthlessly imposed by local Communists, attention is no turning to income taxes. The anger is so widespread that even PRC-owned media is reporting on it, calling the income tax �robbing the poor to help the rich� (BBC). Middle and lower-income residents of Beijing, for example, provide roughly 90% of income tax revenue in the city. INTERNATIONAL NEWS HUTCHISON WHAMPOA MAY TRY AGAIN FOR GLOBAL CROSSING Months after their first bid (see March 13 update) fell by the wayside, Hutchison Whampoa � the Hong Kong conglomerate owned in part by Communist-sympathizer Li Ka-shing � and Singapore Technologies Telemedia may make another bid to buy Global Crossing, according to CNN. GC owns a worldwide fiber optic network that could be a boon to Li�s friends � and possibly HW partners � the PRC. PAKISTAN PRESIDENT VISITS COMMUNIST CHINA Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met with PRC leader Jiang Zemin during a �brief stopover in the Chinese capital� (BBC, CNN). Pakistan is one of Communist China�s oldest allies, and a recipient of large amounts of weapons � including help with Pakistan�s nuclear weapons program. REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS ROC PUSHING CHINA AIRLINES TOWARD BOEING FOR PLANES Taiwan�s government-owned China Airlines is under pressure from the office of President Chen Shui-bian to buy U.S.-made Boeing planes over European competition, according to the BBC. The government, which owns 70% of the airline, is pushing for the U.S. due to �diplomatic and other factors,� some of which are certainly the continued snubs Europe gives Chen so as not to anger the Communists. HONG KONG NEWS HK FINANCE CHIEF�S NEW BRIDE MAY BE STUCK IN MAINLAND FOR YEARS Fu Mingxia, four-time Olympic medallist, is the new bride of Hong Kong Finance Secretary Antony Leung. So when will she be able to move to the city to stay with her groom? The BBC, noting the Communists� insistence of keeping mainlanders away from the city, reports it could be �up to a decade� before Fu can join Leung. No news from Tibet or East Turkestan this week Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it. Anyonewho wishes to join can send his/her name and e-mail address to [email protected]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China you happen to find to the same address. |